Pastor’s Bookshelf

Living Simply with Children by Marie Sherlock

Members of our congregation have joined together in a monthly Simplicity Study Circle to examine and support one another on the quest for living more “simpler,” or more intentional, lives. We have had two meetings that have been very well attended, ranging from 10-15 participants.

Guiding our initial discussions is a unique book that may sound limited to certain people, but has wonderful activities for all families and individuals. Living Simply with Children is “A voluntary simplicity guide for moms, dads, and kids who want to reclaim the bliss of childhood and the joy of parenting.”

So why did I choose this book, when many of the participants don’t have children in the home anymore? Well, for one thing, the lessons they explore are applicable to anyone seeking to reprioritize their lives. Each person/family in our group is encouraged to create a list of Values and Visions. We live in a society that has contradictory values, notes Sherlock: “We drive around in gas-guzzling SUVs with ‘Save the Earth’ bumperstickers on them. We implore our kindergartners to share with others, yet the US ranks an abysmal twenty-first among the industrialized nations in the percentage of our national income earmarked for foreign assistance. We tell ourselves ‘beauty is only skin deep,’ that ‘you can’t judge a book by its cover,’ that it’s what’s on the inside that counts. Yet we buy showcase homes and cars and ensure that our families have the trendiest fashions and hairdos, the latest gadgets and toys. Our paradoxical nature is a recurring theme.”

Sherlock elaborates that the reasons we live such contradictory lifestyles is two-fold. First, we haven’t actually taken time to articulate what living a “full life” actually entails (or perhaps in terms of the faith community, a “faithful life”). Second, the values of our consumer culture are often diametrically opposed from our own.

Rabbi Harold Kushner notes, in his best seller When All You’ve Ever Wanted Isn’t Enough: “Ask the average person which is more important to him, making money or being devoted to his family, and virtually everyone will answer family without hesitation. But watch how the average person actually lives out his life. See where he really invests his time and energy, and he will give away the fact that he does not really live by what he says he believes.”

Through brainstorming our Values in order to create a Vision Statement for what is truly important to our families, we are striving to more clearly see what we put in our lives that clutter, complicate, and disconnect us from each other, as well as our God. If our lives are lived with intentionality--pursuing those things that value most to us--we can find that we can judge the extraneous elements with faithful and empowered discernment.